Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to build joint industrial center at border

An international center for industrial cooperation, called Central Asia, will be built at the border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan near the Atameken border crossing in Kazakhstan and the Gulistan border crossing in Uzbekistan.

According to Alisher Satvaldiyev, a member of the Senate, the upper house of Kazakhstan’s parliament, approximately $53.8 million is needed to implement the project.

He also revealed that both countries will allocate 50 hectares of land each. The land will have the status of a regional industrial zone. The new enterprise will focus on integrating, processing and distributing regional cargo flows. In addition, it will oversee the development of industrial cooperation within the International North-South Transport Corridor.

As the senator noted, once the center is fully operational, it will process agricultural and industrial products and support the development of the pharmaceutical, electrotechnical, chemical, tanning, textile, and sewing industries. Moreover, the new border center will create jobs, as many new businesses are expected to emerge within its framework.

Trans-Continental Logistics Group is expected to be the direct investor for the project, Satvaldiyev said. The transportation company was established in January 2019 by Rgaybek Kairat. In February 2025, he was appointed executive director of Bogatyr Komir LLP, a Kazakh-Russian venture engaged in coal production.

The center’s technical launch is scheduled for Q4 2026, with the official opening ceremony planned for the first half of 2027.

In February 2025, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev instructed the cabinet to accelerate the launch of a logistics hub at the Kazakh-Kyrgyz border. Initially, the project owners were Timur Kulibayev and his son Altay Askar, Kazakhstani moguls, but it is unclear who is now responsible for its construction. The project was originally set to begin in June 2023.